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Nifty ends at 6537; metals, IT, pharma crack & banks lead

Shares of metal companies plunged after data on Saturday showed China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, raising fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

March 10, 2014 / 04:41 PM IST

Moneycontrol BureauLive Market Commentary

03:40 pm Market closing: The Sensex ended up 15.04 points at 21934.83, and the Nifty was up 10.60 points at 6537.25. About 1450 shares advanced, 1331 shares declined, and 156 shares were unchanged. 

03:30 pm Order win: Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro said it has won orders worth Rs 2,935 crore across various business segments in February and March.

"In the transportation and infrastructure business, new orders worth Rs 1,035 crore have been won," L&T said in a statement.

These include a major engineering, construction and procurement (EPC) order from Rail Vikas Nigam for building roadbed, major and minor bridges, track linking, outdoor signalling and electrical works in connection with doubling of Sambalpur-Barpali, Barpali-Bolangir, Bolangir-Titalgarh sections, part of Sambalpur-Titalgarh doubling of East Coast Railway project in Odisha, it said.

03:20 pm FTIL fraud: At least three auditors have come under the scanner of the Corporate Affairs Ministry for their alleged lapses in carrying out audits of crisis-hit NSEL and its promoter group Financial Technologies.

The ministry has issued show cause notices to three auditors seeking explanation for the lapses in auditing the books of NSEL and Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, according to a senior official. The notices have been sent for violations of Companies Act.

Besides, the Ministry has sought clarifications from the Law Ministry, Sebi and Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to finalise action against "gross violations" by FTIL and related entities. Jignesh Shah-led FTIL is the promoter of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). In the wake of the Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at the bourse, these entities alongwith those related to them have come under the scanner of multiple agencies for various violations.

3:10 pm Coal scam: CBI today filed its first charge sheet in a Delhi court in the coal blocks allocation case against Navabharat Power Pvt Ltd for allegedly misrepresenting facts and making "fraudulent" claims to "embellish" its applications to get allotments between 2006 and 2009.

Besides Navabharat Power Pvt Ltd, its two directors - P Trivikrama Prasad and Y Harish Chandra Prasad were named in the charge sheet filed before Special CBI Judge Madhu Jain. According to court sources, CBI has charge sheeted Navabharat Power Pvt Ltd and its two directors under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC. CBI has not charged them under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the sources said.

 3:00 pm Stocks in news: Shares of metal companies plunged after data on Saturday showed China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, raising fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. The BSE metals index is down 7.2 percent year-to-date, while the benchmark Sensex is up 3.4 percent in the same period.

"Metal stocks have not yet participated in the ongoing rally on fears relating to the slowdown in China," said Varun Khandelwal, fund manager, Bullero Capital Pvt Ltd. "The recent trade data from China was rather poor; it also affirmed that the earlier negative print was not an aberration in data."

2:50 pm Banks roar: The rally in the market has been led by the banking sector. The Bank Nifty has gained 18 percent since February13 and is trading at 3-month highs. The leaders of the Bank Nifty rally has been the private space with Axis and Yes Bank gaining 29 percent and ICICI Bank gaining 22 percent while Bank of Baroda from the public sector banking space gaining the most at 23 percent.

2:40 pm Buzzing: Shares in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fall as much as 2.8 percent after the US Food and Drug Administration said the drug maker was voluntarily recalling 2,528 bottles of its generic version of diabetes drug Glumetza from US-based Santarus Inc.

Sun began recalling the bottles of metformin HCL extended-release tables in the United States on January 28, 2014, after it received a customer complaint that one of the bottles contained tablets of epilepsy drug Gabapentin, the FDA said in a release on its web site.

A Sun spokeswoman confirmed the recall on Monday morning, adding that the company did not expect a significant impact.

The FDA classified the recall as a "Class II," which signifies a remote chance of severe adverse consequences or death due to the product flaw.

Don't miss: Gold duty-cut hopes dim despite CAD cheer

The Sensex is up 62.15 points at 21981.94, and the Nifty is up 23.10 points at 6549.75. About 1376 shares have advanced, 1336 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty is above 12,000 mark. The index crosses 12,000 mark for first time since December 10, 2013.

Auto stocks like M&M and Maruti are up 4 percent each on SIAM's optimism. Slowdown in the auto sector may be reversing for first time in the last one year. SIAM says negative trends in the industry have been arrested and expects positive passenger and commercial vehicle sales growth in FY 15.

BHEL, HDFC Bank and L&T continue to be top gainers in the Sensex. However, Tata Motors is down over 3 percent. TCS , Hindalco, Sun Pharma and GAIL are top losers in the Sensex.

Rupee is flat on back of subdued risk appetite globally post US and Chinese economic data. Gilts trade weak on better-than-expected US non-farm payrolls data for February.

Gold extended losses to a second session on Monday after strong US jobs data eased worries of an economic slowdown and dimmed the metal's safe-haven appeal.

Fears among Chinese investors over a slowdown in the world's second biggest economy also hurt prices, with investors in Shanghai futures and spot contracts dumping bullion.

The drop in prices after five straight weekly gains comes despite weaker Asian equities and a geopolitical crisis in Ukraine, which would typically support gold.

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